Created by Sam Wiebe
Pseudonyms include Nolan Chase
“You can only get punched in the face so many times before you start considering a change of scenery.”
— The Last Exile
Don’t be a chump and ignore this new one, thinking you’ve read it all before. Wakeland may not even be thirty when we first meet him in Invisible Dead (2016), but he’s already accumulated almost as much emotional damage and psychological scar tissue as wisdom.
Once again it’s a young woman missing for far too long who’s the catalyst, but this time it’s not the disappearance of a friend’s innocent young girl who haunts the detective.
Wakeland never knew Chelsea Loam, who disappeared eleven years earlier. But when he’s hired to find her after all these years, he soon realizes she may have been a lot of things, but “innocent” doesn’t seem to have ever been one of them. The trail soon leads to a convicted serial killer, a biker gang, far too many nasty secrets and far too many nasty (and dangerous) people who would rather those secrets were never exposed.
And so it goes. By 2021’s Hell and Gone, he’s formed a partnership — and a detective agency — with fellow investigator Jeff Chen, but it’s at times an uneasy alliance. Jeff’s more business oriented, and Dave’s, well, a little more impulsive, a little more idealistic, a little more prone to bending the rules. Which he does.
Often.
But at a cost.
Beautiful British Columbia, my ass. This is the face of Vancouver tourists never see… if they’re lucky.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sam Wiebe‘s crime fiction has been published internationally. His first novel, Last of the Independents (2014) introduced Vancouver P.I. Michael Drayton, and since then his projects have included audio adaptations of Hamlet and Frankenstein, an independent film script, and the Wakeland series, which now includes Cut You Down (2018), Hell and Gone (2021), Sunset and Jericho (2023) and The Last Exile (2025). He’s also the editor, appropriately enough, of Vancouver Noir, a 2018 Askashic release.
UNDER OATH
- “Wakeland is to Vancouver what Scudder is to New York, and Hell and Gone cements Wiebe’s place alongside Penny, Barclay, and Atwood.”
— Reed Farrel Coleman - “… a study in both riveting crime writing and stark social realism.”
— The Toronto Star on Cut You Down - “A timely, gripping story that rages with frustration and anger at what might have been and what might yet be; a book that does for the missing women of the Downtown Eastside what Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath did for migrant workers. Complex, brilliantly crafted, it has an underlying sadness that permeates every gritty, lyrical word.”
— Peggy Blair on Invisible Dead - “A gripping, wrenching, brilliant piece of fiction, quite possibly the definitive Vancouver crime novel… outstanding.”
— Owen Laukkanen on Invisible Dead - “Invisible Dead does all the things that only the PI novel can do, pushing the limits of morals to the breaking point in the pursuit of truth. Dave Wakeland is a great guide into the dark soul of Vancouver, never stopping and never looking away.”
— John McFetridge - “No one is writing contemporary Vancouver better than Sam Wiebe. Taking in the full life of a North American city while also building out a clever plot that upends femme fatale tropes, creating an incredibly smart and frightening villain in their place, is what Wiebe achieves in Cut You Down. It’s a book that shows the city… isn’t just the postcard tech-hub hiking paradise, but a complex centre of class conflict, where people just trying to pay rent live half a block down from the CEOs of ultra-rich conglomerates. And, as with any situation equally rich in financial opportunity, desperation, and ambition, there’s always crime.”
— Naben Ruthnum - “Sam Wiebe is going to be become a modern master of noir.”
— Andrew Gulli on Cut You Down (Strand Magazine) - “I enjoyed the Wiebe interview. I’ve read all the Wakeland novels and invariably they are well written and do a great job of describing Vancouver. Sunset and Jericho had a surprise ending that I never expected. The only down side is the novels are so PC, Wakeland could easily be renamed “Woke” land. Still, I am looking forward to reading The Last Exile.”
— Doug MaKitten
NOVELS
- Invisible Dead (2016) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
- Cut You Down (2018) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
- Hell and Gone (2021) | Buy this book | Buy the audio | Kindle it!
- Sunset and Jericho (2023) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
- The Last Exile (2025) | Buy this book | Kindle it! | Read an excerpt
- Guns Across the River (2026)
SHORT STORIES
- “Next to Nothing” (September 2014, Dark Corners)
- “No Place to Fall” (January 2016, The Dark City)
- “Hollywood North” (2018, digital) | Kindle it!
- “Wonderful Life” (2018, Vancouver Noir)
- “Next Up” (2021, Mickey Finn 2)
- “The Barguzin Sable” (March/April 2024, EQMM)
- “Broken English” (2024, Mickey Finn: 21st Century Noir)
- There are also a few stories featuring Jeff Chen, Dave’s sometime partner:
- “Black Light Marker” (Winter 2012, Spinetingler)
- “Albuquerque” (May/June 2017, Suspense)
FURTHER INVESTIGATION
- Vancouver and Beautiful British Columbia
Private Eyes of the West Coast - Sam Wiebe
The author’s official web site. - A Conversation About “The Conversation”
Sam introduces the 1974 classic. - “The Last Exile”
An excerpt from the novel.
Report respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.
